
J/^ 







y 




,/ia^^^hu 



E 302 
.6 

F8 J59 
Copy 2 ANKLIN-HIS GENIUS, LIFE, AND CHARACTER. 



AN 



OKATION 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



N. T. TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 



ON THE OCCASION OF 



i fMhki] nf 



PRINTERS' FESTIVAL, 

HELD JANUARY 17, 1849. 



JOHN L. JEWETT 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY. 



05 NEW- YORK : 
y HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET. 

M.DCCCXLIX. 



New-York, Jan. 20, 1849. 
Mr. J. L. Jewett : — 

Sir : In behalf of the New-York Typographical Soci- 
ety, and for ourselves, we liave the honour of expressing our gratification witli 
the Oration delivered by yourself before the Society, at the late Anniversary of 
Franklin's Birthday, Jan. 17, and request a copy of the same for publication by 
the Society. 



Yours respectfully. 



B. R. Barlow, i 

C. C. Savage, > Committee. 
R. H. Johnston, S 



New-York, Jan. 23, 1849. 



Gentlemen : — 

In acknowledging your favour of the 20th instant, permit me to 
tender to yourselves, and, through you, to the members of our time-honoured So- 
ciety, and to the Typographical Profession generally in the city of New- York, 
my warmest thanks for the cordial reception proffered me on the occasion alluded 
to, and for the attention bestowed upon my remarks throughout ; as well as for 
innumerable acts of kindness and courtesy received at their hands during an in- 
tercourse that has extended through many years. 

I feel pleasure in complying with your request ; not so much from the in- 
trinsic value of the production, as from the hope that it may, in connexion with 
the occasion that called it forth, do something to awaken our brother printers, and 
others into whose hands the discourse may fall, to a renewed and more diligent 
study and imitation of the life and virtues of the truly great and good man whose 
Birthday we liave just commemorated. 

I remain, gentlemen. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. L. Jewett. 
To Messrs. B. R. Barlow, ^ 

C. C. Savage, > Committee. 
R. H. Johnston, ) 



ORATION. 



It is permitted to every human being, at some early 
stage of his existence, to enjoy a season of comparative 
purity and innocence, — a season of unselfish and devout 
aspiration to live in harmony with every kindred intelli- 
gence. From this, as from a landmark, he takes as it were 
his departure, when entering, freighted with its respon- 
sibilities, upon the perilous voyage of life. And as the 
mariner, becalmed in tropical seas, fevered and exhaust- 
ed with vertical heats, yearns and sighs for his native 
land, until his parting glimpses of its green fields and 
meadows rise in vision before him; so also does the 
voyager upon the sea of life, weary and soul-sick with 
its heartless strifes and maddening passions, recur to 
his sad farewell of the native home of his mind, — to its 
season of peace and purity, — until it rises in recollection 
like the last rays of a beautiful sunset — the golden age of 
his early unclouded years. Experience unfortunately 
teaches us, that to many individuals their residence in 

2 



this Eden of the mind must be briefer than a summer's 
morning. Still, we have reason to beheve that no one is 
wholly destitute of some cherished remembrance, some 
oasis in the desert of his memory, from which an influence 
ever and anon steals into the mind, like breezes blown 
from the spice-islands of youth and hope. Sad indeed is 
it for us, when no voice is echoed from the repose of by- 
gone years, — when eveu memory fails to renew the 
golden age of our youth ; for around it cluster all our 
hopes of peace. It is the nucleus about which are gath- 
ered, as by a celestial magnetism, all our desires for true 
moral and spiritual advancement, — all our aspirations 
worthily to fulfil the high ends of our being. 

There is something analogous to this individual expe- 
rience in the history of Nations and States — of Societies 
and Associations ; all have their golden age. Whatever 
opinions may be formed of what are generally considered 
the fabulous ages of antiquity, it is historically true that 
our own country at least, and many of the countries of 
modern Europe, have had their golden age. 

Who can read the history of good King Alfred of 
England, and contemplate his simple uprightness of 
heart, and his manly virtues, and not feel that his was the 
golden age of his country ? And who does not see that 
the memory of his virtues has been the lamp that in every 
age has guided the feet of the noblest of our Enghsh an- 
cestors, — that his valiant deeds have been the torch that 
has never ceased to kindle the flame of patriotism in their 
breasts ? 



France, too, had her golden age in the reign of Saint 
Louis, who administered justice to his people in person, 
rechning against an oak in the forest of Vincennes ; and 
in the sainted Maid of Orleans, who to peerless beauty, 
and all womanly virtues, united martial enthusiasm and 
prowess that rescued her country for ever from the yoke 
of the invader, and drove mailed knights and haughty 
captains in terror and disgrace from her soil. At the bare 
mention of these names, every true-hearted Frenchman 
feels that the highest and holiest sentiments of his nature 
are summoned to go forth into action. 

Need we say that the serene majesty encircling like 
a halo of light the head of our Washington, will for 
ever stamp the era of his life as the golden age of our 
own beloved country ? Not indeed the age of her out- 
ward success and prosperity — not her age of gold — for 
she was then in her hour of dark trial and deadly conflict 
— but the age when were sown those genuine seeds of 
pubHc and private virtue that gave promise of so golden 
a harvest. How glorious a legacy to the youth of Ame- 
rica is the history of his unequalled patriotism and devo- 
tion — his faith, and firmness, and self-sacrifice, in the thick- 
est night of his country's despondency ; his own gallant 
achievements, and his unfeigned joy at the achievements 
of others ; his freedom from all vulgar ambition, and the 
spotless purity of his unostentatious life ! Who can tell, 
amid the degeneracy into which we have undoubtedly 
fallen, and to which we cannot wholly shut our eyes, — who 
can tell the amount of vaulting ambition that has been 



8 



nipped in the bud, the corruption that has blushed to see 
the fair face of day, in consequence of the severe rebuke, 
silently but effectually administered to every unhallowed 
purpose by the memory alone of the Father of his coun- 
try ? Can we think of him, and not feel that his virtues 
possess a creative power, a fructifying life, that will cause 
them to spring up anew, and be re-embodied again and 
again, in every succeeding age ? 

Societies, associations, and every body of men or- 
ganized for the attainment of a specific purpose, or for 
the performance of an important function in the commu- 
nity—these too, as well as individuals and states, have a 
golden age in their history. It will of course be seen that 
outward prosperity, pecuniary success, or even the appa- 
rent attainment of the ends for which men associate, are 
not necessarily included in our idea of a golden age. The 
annals of every organized society or fraternity will furnish 
abundant evidence of the fact we aim to elucidate. Each 
and all of them look back to some period in their history, 
when the ends and objects of the institution, its capa- 
bihties for beneficent action, the purposes it aimed to 
accomplish, the importance of the use it designed to per- 
form, were pre-eminently well understood, and held in 
their genuine simphcity. Each and all of them refer to 
some individual whose intellectual endowments, whose 
moral worth and integrity, whose devotion to the true 
ends of the institution, entitle him to be held in grateful 
remembrance by his successors — some one whose exam- 
ple is constantly held up to incite to praiseworthy action. 



It is in this spirit, and for this purpose, that we have 
met this evening to do honour to the Birthday of Frank- 
lin. We are assembled to burn no unhallowed incense 
at any shrine — to bow in servile worship of no mere man 
like ourselves. But we have met to refresh our minds 
with a recollection of the wise maxims and virtuous deeds 
of a philosopher and a sage ; we would quicken ourselves 
to renewed exertions in the path of duty, by recalling the 
noble example of one endeared to us by the ties of a com- 
mon profession, by and through which we proffer a claim 
which he himself would not have shamed to acknowledge. 

We seek not to monopolize the glory of Franklin's 
name ; we would indulge no spirit of exclusiveness in 
relation to one who was an honour not only to his pro- 
fession and his country, but to the human race and the 
world. At the same time, we claim as legitimately ours, 
all the benefit we may be able to derive from his example ; 
we claim as ours every inference in favour of the capabili- 
ties of our profession, and of the meliorating influence of 
its associations upon the intellectual and moral character, 
which may fairly be drawn from his -great attainments and 
his blameless life. 

Frankhn enjoyed among his early contemporaries 
the highest reputation as a workman ; his skill and indus- 
try placed him in the foremost rank of practical print- 
ers. By the diligent and faithful exercise of our art, he 
attained a competence of this world's goods, and thus 
laid the foundation of his great subsequent usefulness. 
The daily and continued exercise of his profession, as a 



10 



means of subsistence, was made compatible by him with 
the attainment of great and varied knowledge, which 
fitted him for the highest stations in the gift of a grateful 
country. His purity of life, and fidelity in the discharge 
of every trust reposed in him ; his unwearied activity, 
and the consecration of all his powers and acquirements 
for the good of his fellow-men ; his moral and intellectual 
greatness, conceded by every civilized nation in the 
world, elevate him far above every other name in the 
annals of printing. In view of these facts, and in view 
of the inestimable value to the members of our pro- 
fession of so high an example — an example which can 
never cease to act as an incentive to every virtuous 
impulse — we claim the age of Franklin as the golden 
age of our art. Not that printing, in his day, reached 
perfection, or that it received from him or his con- 
temporaries any striking improvements; not that the 
practice of our profession was then more lucrative or 
respectable than it had previously been. Not for these 
reasons do we recur with pleasure and pride to the 
time when Franklin was one of our number — identi- 
fied with us by one of the most intimate of social 
relations ; not for this do we contemplate his life as 
forming an era in our art. Far other and higher rea- 
sons have influenced us to claim for it this pre-emi- 
nence. It is because his life was a living, practical, 
and ever-enduring demonstration, of the moral, intel- 
lectual, and social eminence that may be attained in 
our profession, by a faithful performance of its duties, 



11 

by a diligent improvement of its opportunities, by an 
unrepining submission to its privations. It is because 
he has proved to us what can be made of our lot in 
life ; because he has shown that we have no occasion 
for unmanly regrets that we do not inherit the advan- 
tages of fortune or station, — no cause of complaint 
that our youth was not passed in academic bowers. 

True it is — a truth we do well to remember — that 
we cannot all be Franklins. Though he was mainly 
indebted for his eminence to his persevering industry, 
his strong control of his passions, and his obedience 
to conscience, yet it cannot be denied that he was 
endowed by his Creator with rare gifts of intellect. 
These it was that fitted him to fill a peculiar place — 
to perform an allotted task specially his own. We 
are not all called to fill a like place, or to perform a 
similar task. Still, his example, on that account, is 
not the less valuable to us — not a whit the less avail- 
able. We learn by it that a resolute and uncomplain- 
ing performance of duty, whatever our condition in 
life — the desire and the effort to be useful to our fel- 
low-men, in the humblest as well as in the highest 
relations — is the infallible method of developing our 
highest capabilities — the only sure road to that peace 
and repose we all so earnestly seek. This was the 
lamp by which Franklin's feet were guided,— the com- 
pass by which his bark was faithfully steered. He 
did indeed obtain wealth and station — and these are 
things not to be despised; he received the approba- 



12 



tion and applause of the wise and the good — and these 
he by no means undervalued. But his happiness from 
this source can no more compare with the serene re- 
pose and joy that crowned his days, and supported 
him under every trial and vicissitude — arising from the 
consciousness that he had devoted all his powers to 
their best and highest use — than the transient flash of 
a meteor can compare with the steady light and warmth 
of the noonday sun. 

Franklin's history, as written by himself — that in- 
imitable piece of autobiography — is familiar to us all ; 
and though no story of a life ever lost less of its interest 
by being repeated, yet a selection of incidents illustra- 
tive of his character, or suggestive of reflections which 
may be used for our own advantage, may be most ap- 
propriate to this occasion. 

One of the striking points in the life of Franklin, 
is the very early and almost premature development 
of his character. The loftiness, and yet the soberness 
of his aspirations — the manliness, and yet the feasibility 
of the ends he proposed to himself, must strike every 
reader of his memoirs. Thus, shortly after entering 
upon his apprenticeship, which commenced at the early 
age of twelve years, we find him studying with interest, 
among other works of a grave character, Xenophoii's 
Memorabilia; a Treatise on Logic, by the Society of 
Port Royal ; and Locke's Essay o?i the Conduct of the 
Human Understanding — works generally supposed to be 
rehshed only by matured intellect and cultivated taste- 



13 



About this time he also devoted much of his leisure 
to the practice of English composition. He seems to 
have been fully aware, even at this early age, of the 
great advantage it is to every one, in every condition 
of life, to be able to express himself clearly, forcibly, 
and elegantly in his native tongue ; and he spared no 
labour or pains to attain this accomplishment. His 
days and nights, as Dr. Johnson afterwards recom- 
mended, were therefore given to Addison and the 
Spectator. Barely to be able to make himself under- 
stood — to acquire that style of easy writing which is 
said to constitute the hardest reading — was not suffi- 
cient for Franklin. He had little faith in Dogberry's 
notion, that reading and writing come by nature, even 
to the fortunate tenant of a printing-office ; and he did 
not cease from his effi)rts until he felt satisfied — and 
few will say he was deceived in this — that he had at 
least approximated the excellence of his model. 

Franklin's early love of justice and liberty, and his 
hatred of intolerance and oppression, were worthy of 
both his New England and his Old England origin. He 
lived in an age when children and youth were treated by 
their parents and relatives with great harshness and 
severity. His elder brother, to whom he was appren- 
ticed, seems to have been a man of irritable and vio- 
lent temper ; and more than once, for light and venial 
offences, he inflicted heavy blows upon the embryo phi- 
losopher. Though Franklin never after manifested re- 
sentment for this cruel treatment, but sought rather to 



14 



find excuses for it, it is evident that, at the time, it 
deeply wounded his feehngs. It induced liim to take 
what, under other circumstances, would have been an 
unjustifiable advantage of his brother, — and clandestinely 
to leave his home and friends, at the early age of seven- 
teen, and throw himself, friendless and poor, upon the 
wide world of adventure. 

No man ever made a better use than Franklin of the 
injuries done him. He permitted them to remain vivid 
in his mind, only that they might nerve his resolution 
never in his turn to inflict like injuries upon others. 

Removed from paternal direction, he became exposed 
to all the temptations that beset the path of the inex- 
perienced. His religious principles were shaken, and 
he fell into serious errors. He was made the dupe of a 
heartless imposition by Governor Keith, and was thrown 
upon the world of London, as friendless as when he first 
ate his roll in the streets of Philadelphia, and quenched 
his thirst in the Schuylkill. This was his hour of peril 
— the ordeal from which so few escape unscathed. A 
year and a half spent in England added something to 
his knowledge and experience, but contributed little to 
his morals or his purse. He returned to Philadelphia, 
and soon after went into business with a partner, in the 
twenty-second year of his age. It was then that he 
reflected seriously upon his principles and his conduct. 
He had been religiously educated by his parents, and 
the golden age of his childhood revived in his memory. 
He looked at his Deistical principles in the light of 



15 



experience ; — he tested the tree by its fruit, and the 
result was, a conviction of its worthlessness. He saw that 
his friends the free-thinkers, who boasted their supe- 
riority to vulgar prejudice, were also found to be above 
moral obligations. " I grew convinced," he says, " that 
truth, sincerity, and integrity, between man and man, 
were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life, 
and I formed resolutions to practise them ever while I 
lived." 

Franklin now began deliberately to shape his course 
for the future. All his actions were governed by fixed 
principles, and were made subservient to some important 
end. He had the sagacity to see, that whatever may be 
the object which men propose to themselves as the 
result of their labours, yet, really and substantially, all 
their happiness is derived from action — from the con- 
stant and vigorous exercise of some or all of their 
faculties. He saw that although the man in pursuit of 
wealth looks forward to a period when he hopes quietly 
to enjoy the fruit of his gains ; and the ambitious man 
anticipates the time when he may repose upon his 
laurels, and regale himself with listening to the appro- 
bation and applause of the world, still, in neither case 
are their ends ever realized. An inexorable law of our 
nature has associated pleasure and delight only with 
activity. The habits formed for the attainment of an 
end become incompatible with the enjoyment of the 
long-sought object. The couch of luxury is transformed 
to a bed of thorns ; and the garlands of ambition become 



16 



more withered and worthless than the fading leaves of 
autumn. Franklin's philosophical mind saw this at an 
early age, and he proposed to himself the noblest end to 
which human endeavour can be directed — a life of active 
benevolence and usefulness to his fellow-men. This 
principle, early cherished, to which all things were 
made subservient, grew with his growth, and became 
the delight of his life. If we lose sight of this his ruling 
motive, we fail to understand his character. He was 
industrious and frugal, and laboured hard to procure 
wealth ; and he frankly acknowledged that he was not 
without ambition — that he valued the esteem of his 
fellow-men ; these, however, were but means to a wor- 
thier end. Through life his actions testify, that his 
ambition and love of wealth were subordinate passions, 
which he was ever willing to sacrifice to his ruling 
desire to be useful to his friends, to his country, and to 
the world. 

Injustice has been done to Franklin, both in England 
and our own country, by not distinguishing between the 
principal and the subordinate in his character. He has 
been represented as the impersonation of mere thrift, 
and the patron saint of worldly wisdom and prudence, — 
as a man whose teachings would sacrifice all generous 
emotion at the bidding of a low expediency and for per- 
sonal advancement. No greater injustice can be done 
him than this. No man who has attained celebrity ever 
less deserved such a portrait. 

Franklin knew well that independence in pecuniary 



17 



affairs, freedom from the thousand embarrassments of 
harassing penury, are not only essential to the comfort 
of life, but no mean guardians of independence of mind ; 
he also knew that they are the first requisite, the indis- 
pensable condition, of every one who would effectually 
serve either his friends or his country. Having settled 
this in his own mind, he chose for himself the surest, 
most direct, and feasible means of attaining this con- 
dition. His example and precepts on the subject of 
economy — on the means of obtaining independence and 
comfort — are therefore the best the world affords. 

But though Franklin was well aware that no structure 
can endure that is not built on a firm foundation, — 
though he insisted upon this as of the first and highest 
importance, — yet no one was ever less in danger of mis- 
taking a mere foundation for the edifice itself. As a 
means to an end, he insisted upon pecuniary indepen- 
dence as a sine qua non ; but, as an end in itself, or as a 
means to mere personal and selfish gratification and 
aggrandizement, he looked upon it with all the contempt 
it deserved. Few men have ever succeeded so well as 
he, in practically assigning to the gifts of fortune their 
true importance and actual value. 

As one among many instances that might be men- 
tioned, to prove that Franklin had higher ends in view 
than wealth, we may refer to the fact of his having in- 
vented the stove that goes by his name, — so well known 
to our mothers and grandmothers ; — which was so much 
used even in his own day, that several fortunes were 



18 



made by the manufacture and sale of it. Governor 
Thomas, of Pennsylvania, was so well pleased with it, 
that he offered to secure to the inventor a patent for the 
sole vending of it for a term of years ; " but I dechned," 
says Franklin, " from a principle which has ever weighed 
with me on such occasions ; namely. That, as we enjoy 
great advantages from the inventions of others, we should 
be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention 
of ours ; and this we should do freely and generously." 

Injustice has also been done to the religious charac- 
ter of Franklin ; for though it is true that he could not 
be classed with any denomination of Christians of his 
day ; and though it is also due to truth to declare our be- 
lief in a deeper and higher religious experience than he 
ever attained ; still, the devotional habits of his mature 
years, his belief in a future state of rewards and punish- 
ments, and his firm reliance on a particular Providence, 
exercising a constant and guardian watchfulness over the 
affairs of men, take him out of the ranks of any class of 
skeptics of either ancient or modern times. A favourite 
article of his creed, and one that lay at the spring of all 
his actions, was — " That the most acceptable service to 
God, is doing good to man." These were his views so 
early as the twenty-seventh year of his age. 

Franklin was probably the original founder of the 
many institutions existing among us for mutual improve- 
ment. He w^as one of the first to see the advantage of 
associated effort for mental and moral purposes. We are 
all familiar with the history of the " Junto," instituted by 



19 



him in his twenty-third year, and which, forty years after 
its estabhshment, became the basis of the American Phi- 
losophical Society, of which he was the first president. 
It is probably to the wisdom and liberality of the rules 
which Franklin drew up for the government of the "Junto" 
that it owed its protracted existence. We may also add, 
that Franklin, in his turn, was doubtless mainly indebted 
to the " Junto" — to its discipline, and the practice it af- 
forded him in the consideration and discussion of questions 
of the highest moment — for the practical wisdom and 
readiness which he afterwards brought to the public 
councils of his country. The debates of the club Avere 
under the direction of a president, and conducted in the 
sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for 
dispute or desire of victory ; and, to prevent warmth, all 
expressions of positiveness in opinion, or direct contra- 
diction, were made contraband, and prohibited tinder 
pecuniary penalties. A revival and adoption of the rules 
of the " Junto," would have saved from shipwreck many 
of the associations that have been started in our midst 
for similar purposes. The uncommon good sense and 
liberality of the four questions put to a person about to 
be qualified as a member of this little society, must be 
our excuse for repeating them here : — 

" 1st. Have you any particular disrespect to any pre-^ 
sent members ? Answer. I have not. 

" 2d. Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind 
in general, of what profession or religion soever ? An- 
swer, I do. 



20 



" 3d. Do you think any person ought to be harmed 
in his body, name, or goods, for mere speculative opin- 
ions, or his external way of worship ? Answer. No. 

" 4th. Do you love truth for truth's sake, and will you 
endeavour impartially to find and receive it yourself, and 
communicate it to others ? Answer. Yes." 

Franklin married, in his twenty-fifth year, a lady as 
much disposed, he says, to industry and frugality as him- 
self. By her assistance and co-operation, and his own 
untiring industry ; by the valuable aid which his charac- 
ter for integrity soon induced his friends to volunteer to 
him, and by avoiding every temptation to embark in spe- 
culations for becoming suddenly rich, he obtained a com- 
petence while yet in the flower of his age. At the same 
time, hand in hand with his daily labour to better his 
material condition — putting into type his own articles for 
his newspaper, and sharing in the severe toil of working 
it off on the old-fashioned press — he had been pursuing, 
constantly and systematically, a course of study which 
fitted him for a high sphere of usefulness. 

It ought to be remembered to his honour, that Franklin 
never forgot the obhgation which the assistance he had 
received from friends imposed upon him. He never neg- 
lected an opportunity to be useful to others in the same 
way in his turn. Many of the first printers in our coun- 
try were started in business by Franklin ; and his terms 
to them were always liberal, and his conduct kind and in- 
dulgent. Nor did he end here. At the close of his life he 
bequeathed in his will one thousand pounds sterling to the 



21 



city of Philadelphia, and a like sum to the city of Bos- 
ton, to be loaned in sums of 60 pounds sterling, at a low 
rate of interest, to young married mechanics of good 
character. Nearly 500 persons have availed themselves 
of Frankhn's generosity ; and the fund, greatly increased 
in amount, still exists for the benefit of mechanics. 

Franklin never ceased to love the profession by which 
he had risen to eminence. He always retained a fond- 
ness for the conversation of printers, and was ever ready 
to enter into their schemes, and to aid and suggest im- 
provements in their art. Even while he associated with 
statesmen and courtiers, and had stood in the presence of 
kings, the same habits continued. So far was he from 
being reserved on the subject of his early condition and 
pursuits, that he often alluded to them, as giving value to 
his experience, and as furnishing incidents illustrative of 
his maxims of life. 

Franklin was indebted for his first important suc- 
cess in life, and for his introduction to public notice, to 
his superior workmanship as a printer, and his ability 
to write with clearness, precision, and energy. His 
newspaper, " The Pennsylvania Gazette,'''' excelled in 
neatness and accuracy anything of the kind that had 
been seen before in the colonies, and the elegant con- 
tributions of his pen made it eagerly sought for. His 
rival, Bradford, who was printer to the Legislature, 
had struck off an Address of the House to the Gover- 
nor in so blundering a manner, that Franklin was 
induced to reprint it neatly and correctly. He then 

3 



22 



sent a copy to every member. The next year he was 
voted printer to the Legislature. From this time he 
gradually rose in public favour. He declares that he 
never sought for office, and never declined to serve in 
any capacity where he could be useful. But his private 
virtue and integrity, his modesty, intelligence, and abi- 
lity, were so conspicuous, that his fellow-citizens were 
always desirous to secure his services. 

From being printer to the Assembly, Frankhn rose 
to the office of its Clerk. He was afterwards appointed 
Postmaster of Philadelphia, the duties of which trust he 
performed to general satisfaction ; and at length his 
fellow-citizens chose him to represent them in the 
Legislature. This office affi)rded him an appropriate 
and conspicuous field for the exercise of his great and 
brilliant talents. From this period, which was twenty- 
six years before our Declaration of Independence, 
Franklin probably contributed more, by his wise and 
prudent counsels, and his public acts and writings, to 
prepare the people for that great event, than any other 
public man in our country. 

Time will not permit us to detail the many great 
and important measures originated by Franklin dur- 
ing his legislative career. We must not, however, 
omit to mention, that as, during the period when he was 
employed in his profession, performing manual labour, 
he found opportunity to acquire the knowledge that 
afterwards gave him eminence as a statesman ; so also, 
while faithfully serving the state in many capacities, 



23 j^ 

his unremitting industry gave him leisure for pursuits 
and original experiments which raised him to the first 
rank among scientific men and philosophers. In his 
48th year the degree of Master of Arts was, of their 
own motion, conferred on him by the two highest Col- 
leges in our country, Harvard and Yale; and he was 
shortly after, without solicitation on his part, elected 
a member of the Royal Society of London. A few 
years later, the degree of Doctor of Laws was con- 
ferred upon him by the University of St. Andrews, in 
Scotland ; and he was subsequently elected a member 
of nearly all the principal scientific and literary societies 
of Europe and America. 

In 1753 he was appointed Postmaster-General for 
the American Colonies, and in this capacity he was 
deputed by the Pennsylvania Assembly to wait upon 
General Braddock, who had been sent over from Eng- 
land with two regiments, to put an end to the old French 
war. Franklin suggested to him some important cau- 
tions, which, had they been heeded, might have saved 
that ill-fated commander from rushing upon his ruin ; 
but his bhnd confidence in the invincibleness of the 
King's regular and disciplined troops, led him to disdain 
advice which, he acknowledged, might have been whole- 
some for raw American militia. Notwithstanding Brad- 
dock's headstrong obstinacy, Franklin pledged his own 
private credit — the people refusing to trust the com- 
mander of the King's regular troops — to procure horses 
and wagons for the expedition ; and he very narrowly 



|)24 



escaped being ruined in his fortune to redeem his 
pledge. 

The French war being ended, a controversy which 
had long been carried on between the Pennsylvania 
Assembly and the Proprietaries of the colony — who 
claimed exemption from taxation of their immense es- 
tates, even for the defence of the country — was again 
revived. Franklin had always taken the side of the 
Assembly and the people in this controversy ; and he 
was now deputed agent of the Assembly to the British 
Court, to petition the King for a redress of grievances. 
His reputation as a scholar had preceded his arrival in 
England. During the five years he remained in that 
country, his company was sought after by the first scien- 
tific men and philosophers of the age. By his perfect 
knowledge of American affairs, and the clear light in 
which he unfolded it ; by the urbanity of his deportment 
and sincerity of his conduct, he made a deep impression 
on the Administration then in power, and was often con- 
sulted by them on the general business of the colonies. 
He also succeeded in obtaining the end of his mission ; 
and even the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, whose in- 
terests were strongly opposed to the views he had come 
to advocate, were compelled to acquit him of any con- 
duct which they could censure. Franklin's sterling 
honesty, his superiority toSall intrigue, and reliance 
upon the justice of the cause he had espoused, secu- 
red to him constant composure and self-possession, 
and enabled him at the same time to read, to evade, 



25 r 



and to pity the arts and subterfuges of his oppo- 
nents. 

We here see how deep and strong, by his knowledge 
and experience in public affairs, were thus early laid the 
foundations of his ability to serve his country in the great 
contest that was to ensue. He returned to America in 
1762. His stay in his native land, however, was of short 
duration. The controversy between the Assembly and 
the Proprietaries still continued. The people now peti- 
tioned for a radical change of government, which should 
abrogate the authority of the Proprietaries, and substitute 
a royal government in its stead. The Assembly sustained 
the prayer of the petitioners, and Franklin, who had 
always been a favourite in that body, was now elevated 
to the office of its Speaker. His adversai'ies, however, 
succeeded in defeating his election by the people for the 
subsequent session, and the Assembly appointed him as a 
special agent to proceed again to the court of Great 
Britain. In addition to his commission to take charge of 
the petition for a change of government, he was also 
specially instructed to remonstrate against the passage of 
the famous Stamp-Act, which had just then been pro- 
posed, as well ^is to manage the general affairs of the pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania. f 

Franklin arrived agrain i lEnsjland in 1764. His 

o to 

duties now devolved upon h Ithe conduct of affairs of 
the gravest moment. The ditaculties between England 
and America had assumed a serious aspect. The passage 
of the Stamp-Act aroused the most determined opposition 



26 



in all the colonies ; and Franklin was considered the fittest 
person to remonstrate against it, and urge its immediate 
repeal. In addition to his duties in behalf of Pennsylva- 
nia, he was also solicited to act as agent for Massachu- 
setts, New Jersey, and Georgia, in relation to the Stamp- 
Act. 

It was at this time that Dr. Fi*anklin was called be- 
fore Parliament, to be examined respecting the state of 
affairs in America. His answers were wholly unpre- 
meditated, no previous notice having been given him of 
the tenor of the questions intended to be put to him ; but 
his noble bearing on that occasion, the fearlessness with 
which he defended the conduct of his countrymen, and 
censured the measures of the Parhament, left a deep im- 
pression upon that assembly of great statesmen, and 
inspired universal respect for his character, as well as 
for the cause he had so warmly espoused. 

Franklin remained eleven years in England, making 
occasional journeys to France and other countries of the 
Continent, where he was received with the highest marks 
of respect and esteem. During all this time he was un- 
remitting in his efforts for the welfare of his country. He 
exerted his utmost ability, and in many instances with 
signal success, to procurer le repeal of measures oppres- 
sive to the colonies. HtyApared no pains to conciliate 
and reconcile the two co/ ries ; and when at length he 
saw that a collision was inevitable, he was intimidated 
by no danger he might incur from urging the colonists to 
prepare themselves for the contest. The English minis- 



27 

try, knowing the high place he held in the love and esteem 
of his countrymen, were deeply anxious to gain him to 
their interests ; and accordingly they left no means un- 
tried to compass their end. Flattery and promises of 
promotion, threats and intimidation, were in vain exhaust- 
ed for this purpose. Franklin remained true to the cause 
of his country, not less from conviction of its justice, than 
from predilection for the home and the friends of his 
youth. 

His firmness procured his dismissal from his place at 
the head of the American Post-OfSce ; and it was also 
hinted to him by the high officers of state, that it was 
best for the colonies to conffe to an understanding with 
England, since their seaport towns might so easily be 
laid in ashes. " I replied," says Franklin, " that the chief 
part of my little property consisted of houses in those 
towns, and that they might make bonfires of them when- 
ever they pleased ; that the fear of losing them would 
never alter my resolution to resist to the last the claims 
of Parliament." 

Franklin remained long enough in England to present 
the Petition of the first Continental Congress to the King, 
which was laid before Parliament, and speedily rejected 
with evident marks of conte )t. He returned to Phila- 
delphia in 1775, and, the lay after his arrival, was 
chosen by the Assembly o «nnsylvania a delegate to 
the second Continental Cong jss. 

Franklin was now no longer young. Seventy winters 
had shed their snows upon his venerable head : toil, and 




hardship, and sorrow had done their work, and the infirmi- 
ties of age were upon him. Death had severed the strong 
attachments of his early years. The wife of his youth 
slept in her peaceful grave, and his only and cherished 
son had at once cruelly turned his back upon his father 
and his country. At such a crisis, when the vigorous 
blood of mature manhood no longer flowed in his veins 
— when his knowledge, gained by long experience, of the 
uncertainty of human affairs — the promptings of nature, 
soliciting safety and repose — and all the prudential sug- 
gestions that accompany declining years, would so 
naturally counsel and justify cauti9n, hesitancy, and re- 
serve ; at such a moment, Franklin was summoned to 
embark with his countrymen upon the wreck-strowed 
ocean of revolution ; — called to risk the humble fortune 
he had acquired by honest industry, so needed to pro- 
vide for his growing infirmities, — to expose to the jeers of 
the scoffer his good name, and the reputation for wisdom 
and foresight he so deservedly enjoyed throughout 
Europe, — to place even the httle remnant of life remain- 
ing to him in imminent peril of the ignominious death of 
the scaflfold. 

None of these things moved him. For weal and woe, 
for life and death, he hTf jjconsecrated himself to the 
cause of truth, and justi/K and his country, and he 
asked only how he could ) J most service in its behalf. 
In the spring of 1776 hei ;as appointed byCongress a 
Commissioner to proceed to Canada, to assist the Cana- 
dians in forming a provisional government, and to regu- 



29 



late the operations of the army. Though his mission 
produced httle or no effect, and his health was greatly 
impaired by the hardships of his journey; — though he 
had the mortification to see the American army retreat- 
ing from Quebec, pursued by a well-disciplined enemy, 
superior in numbers and amply supplied, yet his zeal 
and devotion to the cause of freedom never for a mo- 
ment abated. Immediately after his return he resumed 
his seat in Congress, and engaged in its business with 
unabated activity and cheerfulness. 

In that body of illustrious men, which the Earl of 
Chatham pronounced the most honourable assembly of 
statesmen since those of the ancient Greeks and Romans 
in the most virtuous times, no one was more conspicu- 
ous for the wisdom and maturity of his views, or for the 
decision and boldness of the steps he counselled, than 
Franklin. His colleagues honoured him with the highest 
mark of their confidence, by placing him on the memo- 
rable committee of five that was chosen to draft the 
Declaration of Independence. 

There is something in the popular estimate of Frank- 
lin's character, that is avers to associate his name with 
the stirring scenes of '76, am (particularly with the first 
conception of that wonder f instrument that thrilled 
the nations like the sudde /blast of a trumpet, and 
secured at once and for e Uhe independence of our 
country. It is because m e jy character approaching 
perfection, as in every perfect work of art, so little is 
revealed to a superficial glance, and so much remains 



30 



unseen, to surprise and delight the attentive observer 
and student, that Frankhn's mind, in common with that 
of many men of the highest endowments, has been hable 
to be underrated, at least, if not greatly undervalued. 
But the daring boldness and decision of Franklin, in a 
cause which his reason fully approved, is a trait in his 
character which no one acquainted with his whole his- 
tory would venture to dispute. In ardour, firmness, and 
courage, in his own appropriate sphere, he was excelled 
by no one of the great men of the Revolution. No one 
of them gave a more decided support to the Declaration 
of Independence. Let who would falter or waver, never 
a doubt existed as to the course Franklin would take, 
when the instrument that perilled all earthly hopes for 
the cause of freedom was presented for his signature. 
A life-long training had fitted him for that hour. Beneath 
the placid and modest exterior of the philosopher and 
sage there swelled as brave and heroic a heart as ever 
beat in a human bosom ; and he asked no higher boon, 
no worthier climax to his long and useful life in the 
cause of humanity, than permission to enroll his name 
with that band of immortal> , " that priesthood of liberty, 
who stood up unmoved, ^cMismayed, while the ark of 
their salvation thunderedH -jid shook, and lightened in 
their faces, putting all o{v,hem their venerable hands 
upon it, nevertheless."* P V 

Four months had sca^i • Aj elapsed after the Declara- 
tion of Independence, when Franklin was again called 

* Edinburgh Review. 



31 

to take charge of the interests of his country in a foreign 
land. The Continental Congress were solicitous to 
secure the good-will of France in the struggle upon 
which they had entered, and also, if possible, to obtain 
the favour of loans in money, or the munitions of war. 
The high esteem in which Franklin was held by the 
most cultivated minds in France, could not fail to desig- 
nate him as the fittest person in America to be intrusted 
with this weighty commission. He held himself in 
readiness, as he had ever done, to obey the behest of his 
country. Previous to embarking, however, he gave the 
highest evidence of his devotedness to the cause of that 
country, and of his confidence in the result of her peril- 
ous struggle, by raising all the money he could com- 
mand — being between three and four thousand pounds 
sterling — and placing it as a loan at the disposal of 
Congress. 

After a boisterous passage, during which the vessel 
in which he sailed, being chased by British cruisers, 
was kept constantly prepared for action, Franklin arrived 
in France. The noble Fre* Jch people, ever ready to do 
honour to distinguished v te, received him with an 
enthusiasm seldom manifest (even towards princes and 
nobles. In their eyes, Fra jn had won for himself a 
nobility in whose splendoii aat of ancestry grew pale. 
"Men imagined," says si' ^temporary French histo- 
rian, " that they saw in hii / sage of antiquity, come 
back to give austere lesson /and generous examples to 
the moderns. They personified in him the Republic, of 



i 






\'- 



f> 

i . 

which he was the representative and the, legislator. They 
regarded his virtues as those of his countrymen, and 
even judged of their physiognomy by the imposing and 
serene traits of his own. Happy was he who could 
gain admittance to see him in the house which he occu- 
pied at Passy. This venerable old man, it was said, 
joined to the demeanour of Phocion the spirit of Socrates. 
Courtiers were struck with his dignity, and discovered 
in him the profound statesman." 

How valuable to his country in her hour of extremity 
was then the fame of her illustrious son ! And Frank- 
lin generously devoted his fame, as he had before his 
life and fortune, to the service of his country. Again 
and again did he consent to become as it were a 
suppliant for her at the French Court, even at the risk 
of wearying the cabinet by his importunity. The im- 
portant aid which Franklin obtained for the colonies 
in Europe, at this critical period of their history, can 
hardly be overrated. There can be little doubt that the 
veneration in which he was held in France had great 
weight in inducing the Manf^uis de Lafayette, that dear- 
est foster-son of our couJ/^^ ', to leave the land of his 
birth, and the society ofK'^^B young and beautiful wife, 
and the brilhant career!' ifiich his great wealth and 
family connexions openedlXvfi^jim, to share the fortunes 
of a handful of brave meF jt! a distant wilderness, pro- 
scribed as rebels and J. y^Kws by the most powerful 
government on earth. '^ 

The appearance of so eminent an advocate for 



/ 

33 I 

America at the Court of Ver^illes, and the prospect 
of an offensive and defensive league between her colo- 
nies and her most ancient and inveterate foe, was the 
cause of no little uneasiness to England, arid excited 
against Franklin the jealousy and hatred of her min- 
isters. They accordingly set in motion all the well- 
known machinery of diplomacy, to destroy his influ- 
ence, and induce him to abandon his mission. 

Flattery, promises, and threats were again resorted to. 
Agents were specially deputed, kindly to inform him 
that he was surrounded by French ministerial spies. 
When at length it was hinted that even his life was 
in danger, Franklin thanked his informant for his 
kind caution, " but," added he, " having nearly finished 
a long life, I set but little value upon what remains of it. 
Like a draper, when one chaffers with him for a rem- 
nant, I am ready to say, < As it is only a fag-end, I will 
not differ with you about it ; take it for what you please.' 
Perhaps the best use such an old fellow can be put to is 
to make a martyr of him." 

Franklin remained nineryears in France, in the 
almost constant performan ^ arduous and valuable 
services for his country, u togth her independence, 
of which he had assisted jlj the foundation, was 
crowned and consummated fits full recognition in a 
Treaty of Peace with E'/v U, the negotiations for 
which at Paris he had b jhe principal agent in 
conducting. He had now ^xpectedly survived the 
accomplishment of a great work. He had assisted ai 




the first and last acts Wf that memorable drama which 
constitutes an epoch even in world-history. When his 
beloved country first summoned her brave ones to the 
onset, — when insulted Liberty 

" Peal'd her loud drum, and twang'd her trumpet horn," 

he was foremost among the first to rally to her standard, 
and to peril fortune and fame, ease and preferment, and 
even life itself in her sacred cause. And now that a 
benignant Heaven had signally smiled upon trusting 
hope and earnest endeavour ; now that in his aged hands 
had been placed the olive-branch of peace to be borne 
to his natal soil, well might he exclaim, in fulness of 
heart, with the aged Simeon — " Now lettest thou thy 
servant depart in peace !" 

Franklin was now in his eightieth year. A painful 
disease had fastened upon him ; and his earnest desire to 
spend the remainder of his days in his native land, indu- 
ced him to solicit his recall. The Congress granted his 
request. On the occasion of taking his leave of them, 
no mark of attention or re$)i)ect was omitted on the part 
of his ardent and numerf i ,, friends in France. His de- 
parture was anticipate(F#i(B ^';h regret by them all. His 
bodily infirmities not pern' Jiiing the motion of a carriage, 

Vf I 

he was conveyed to thMl.aport of Havre de Grace in 
the Queen's litter, whij \\ ^d been kindly offered him 
for his journey. His h[ -ajj^^ during this his last sea- voy- 
age was occupied in wri\n valuable papers on scientific 
subjects, which were afterwards read before the Ameri- 



35 



/ul 



f 



can Philosophical Society, ana published in a volume of 
the Society's Transactions. 

He arrived in Philadelphia in 1785. Although he 
had considered his public life at an end on leaving 
France, and anticipated that he was henceforward to 
enjoy, in the midst of his friends, complete repose from 
his labours, yet in this he was disappointed. Notwith- 
standing his age and infirmities, so high was the value 
set upon his service, that he was chosen President of 
Pennsylvania (an office corresponding to that of Gover- 
nor in the other States) for three successive years after 
his return home ; and was only then released from ser- 
vice by constitutional ineligibility. 

He was also chosen a delegate from Pennsylvania 
to the Convention for forming the Constitution of the 
United States. Though then in his eighty-second year, 
he attended faithfully to the duties of the Convention. 
The published record of speeches he then made shows 
no abatement in his benevolence, his patriotism, or his 
intellectual vigour. 



Franklin continued in 
and a half of his death, 
consulted on public affairs 
His painful disease now le 
repose. For the last twelv 
chiefly confined to his bet 
serenity never deserted hin 
tion to do good awoke at 
Only twenty-four days befoi 



^lic life till within a year 

I, this time, though often 
never again held office, 
m but few moments of 
)nths of his Hfe he was 
!dl, his cheerfulness and 
I readiness and disposi- 
\j interval of his pains. 
is decease, he finished a 




'i 1 J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

paper in behalf of huma||f ty, which, for happy conception 
and sound reasoning, is^eaid to be not inferior to any of 
his writings. No repining or peevish expression ever 
escaped him. Cahnly, and with ineffable peace, on the 
17th of April, 1790, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, 
his sun sunk to the horizon, to rise again in a purer sphere, 
in the vigour and beauty of eternal youth. 

We have thus essayed to trace a few of the leading 
incidents in the life of Franklin. Do we not well to ho- 
nour his memory ? Ought we ever to let slip an occasion 
hke this to refresh our minds with a recollection of his 
great and noble virtues ? His was indeed a character of 
rare excellence — a union of great qualities seldom found 
existing together in the same individual. He united in 
himself the two great principles of wise conservatism 
and enlightened progress. He was free alike from a 
blind worship of time-honoured error, and a superficial 
contempt for those monuments of wisdom and experience 
that have survived the storm and wreck of centuries of 
desolation. While he m'4^)€ained the position of a bold 
experimenter — of a mai^jvfri feared not to question, by 
a rigorous logic, even tjLfjV)^ , that had been held almost 
too sacred for human scJU4' iiy — ^yet no one ever stood in 
less danger of being Imrjfeaaway by the mere current of 
innovation. All other ^P'^is might admit of change, 
modification, or re-coii^/a^J don ; but the great principles 
of Truth, Justice, and ) ^j vrity could never yield in his 
mind to further the su\vtrw'of any cause, however bene- 



^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011769 999 7 ^ 



